Big bubbles, no troubles!

I have to admit, Hubba Bubba was mighty creative in its advertising.

When this brand of bubble gum was introduced in 1979, gum connoisseurs far and wide feared its looming dominance. That's because its selling point was that it wasn't supposed to stick to your face when you blew bubbles - thereby defeating the whole purpose of bubbling.

But bubbling partisans quickly found the Gum Fighter to be a charismatic advertising icon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r270ZGet0ck

Through the early '80s, the Gum Fighter was a beloved legend on American TV screens. The big, tough cowboy who appeared in Hubba Bubba's Wild West-themed commercials was played by Don Collier (born 1928, the same year modern bubble gum was invented).

And he bubbled.

The 1981 commersh linked to above (one of many featuring the Gum Fighter) features an Alice Cooper look-alike in a chew-off against the ad's hero. The Gum Fighter also has an elderly sidekick, who was played by the late Dub Taylor, a legendary character actor.

While many of the ads featured the Gum Fighter dancing side-to-side while surrounded by admiring townsfolk, this one ends with him uttering Hubba Bubba's slogan and emitting a jolly laugh - as if he's the first person to figure out that 'bubbles' rhymes with 'troubles'.

Hubba Bubba misappeared from American store shelves for quite a few years, but it's made a return. The commercials, however, seem to be gone for good. Don Collier is going on 80, and he still makes coffee commercials - but he hasn't been seen in gum ads in decades.

So probably the only way you'll get to see Gum Fighter commershes is when people go on YouPube and post some from old videotapes they recorded. The master copies were probably long ago chopped up, pulped, and made into compost for something like Bush's ranch.

That Gum Fighter was a character who really had his poop in a group!